Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

This submission for a PhD by Publication draws upon the writings of Geoff Fox over a period of more than 30 years. Fox worked initially as a secondary school teacher, including a formative period in the United States in the late 1960s. Although based at the Exeter University School of Education from 1970 until his retirement in 2000, he also worked extensively as an invited conference speaker, researcher, workshop leader, oral storyteller and drama director in the United Kingdom and abroad. His experience informs much of his writing. He published regularly throughout his time at Exeter on several aspects of his field. A common element underpinning his writing is his interest in literature for children, whether in the form of novels, poetiy, drama or oral stories. A characteristic of the work in this submission is that the responses of children to these literary forms is invariably taken into account. For this submission, four inter-related areas of work are selected to represent his list of publications: • the teaching of literature in schools; • the criticism of literature written for children; • drama and storytelling; • editorial work. The collection includes whole books, chapters from books, journal articles and some sample copies of the journal Children's Literature in Education, which Fox has edited for 34 years. An Overview introduces the collection, placing each submitted piece in relation to the writer's career and developing interests. Research which preceded writing is indicated and there is some consideration of the work in terms of its originality and its impact upon both academic and pedagogical fields. There is particular mention of two areas; Fox's influence nationally and internationally in the teaching of literature based upon reader-response theory; and his work as editor of a respected international refereed journal in the field of study. A selection of contemporary reviews completes the submission.

This research focused on the issue of children's understanding of the pretend-reality distinction. In particular, it investigated several features of the availability hypothesis (Harris, Brown, Marriott, Whittall & Harmer, 1991; Johnson & Harris, 1994) and the pretence continuation account (Golomb & Galasso, 1995) which have been previously offered as competing explanations for children's behaviours during pretence. Specifically, the experiments reported here explored the role of differing forms of affect in both of these accounts and assessed the constraining influence of empirical evidence of reality on the effects of increased cognitive availability. To this end, a series of seven related experiments were conducted in which four to seven year old children (N = 591) were asked to pretend about the contents of empty boxes. The children's behaviours on a series of box selection tasks were then observed under conditions of differing affect and varying levels of empirical evidence (experiments 1 to 5). The children's spontaneous behaviours were also video recorded (experiments 6 and 7). Taken together, the results suggest that there are interactions between individual differences, age, affect and levels of empirical evidence which predict children's propensity towards making pretend-reality confusions. In relation to previous explanations of children's behaviour, the pretence continuation account (Golomb & Galasso, 1995) is unable to explain the complexity of the current findings and the results are instead more consistent with an account involving individual differences such as that proposed by Johnson and Harris (1994). However, there are two crucial contributions which the experiments reported here can make to these explanations. First, there are developmental changes which take place between four and seven years of age in relation to pretend-reality understanding and these changes interact with the individual differences identified by Johnson and Harris (1994). Second, the present data provide evidence of the central role played by affect in children's pretence. Overall, this thesis offers an account of children's understanding of the distinction between pretence and reality which incorporates both developmental and individual differences.

This research has been carried out on the basis of a quite short and quite simple question: Is the notion of children's citizenship a reality or romanticism? It looks at the status and extent of our knowledge of the position of children over a period of about 2500 years in the past and toward an as yet unpredictable time in the future. In so doing it looks at not only 'ourselves' (Western European societies) but other cultures, traditions and beliefs that broaden the question's base. It considers branches of knowledge such as the social sciences, theology and philosophy. Those disciplines have examined humanity with varying amounts of reference to children or childhood for at least as long as any of them has existed. The choice of methods includes analytic induction, morphological analysis and content analysis cum symptomatic reading. Those choices are governed by the fact that most parts of all data are printed texts. Some of the content is also my own work, partially field based and other parts published texts. Some of my more recent, undocumented field based work has also raised questions that require answers that a work of this nature might provide. This research moves on and away from child participation using a children's rights based argument toward examination of the relationship of the child with the state, thus as a potential full member citizen, including children's rights as part of the broader human rights agenda. In so doing, the conclusions complete research that has taken a course in which the intent before examining evidence was to reach a position that was partly advocacy for full citizenship. The conclusions bearing the weight of historically and geographically widespread data now look at a better informed reality of the possibility of that being realised.

No description available.

M.Tech. / Objectives: To gain statistics on the perception parents in Johannesburg have regarding paediatric chiropractic and to educate the public as to the value of paediatric chiropractic in infants and children and increase the number of paediatric patients presenting to chiropractic practices. Methods: One-hundred-and-fifty questionnaires were completed by willing participants attending various antenatal classes throughout Johannesburg. Thereafter, a brief educational talk on paediatric chiropractic was given to all participants and information brochures were distributed. Results: A total of 34.50% of the participants had been previously treated by a chiropractor, with only 12.80% having been treated during their pregnancy and a further 15.70% who intended to receive chiropractic treatment while they were pregnant. Throughout the various age groups majority (54.20%- 56.30%) of the participants felt that might consult a chiropractor for the treatment of a child, although very little was known about the paediatric conditions that may be treated by chiropractors. Majority of the participants felt that chiropractic treatment of paediatrics and during pregnancy was completely safe. Conclusions: Although the participants were not entirely opposed to paediatric chiropractic (the treatment of children and pregnant mothers) they had very little knowledge regarding the topic of paediatric chiropractic, the conditions it may be successful in treating and the health benefits for children who receive chiropractic treatment. Majority of the participants were interested in furthering their knowledge regarding the topic of paediatric chiropractic.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a chronic disease with pehods of remission and relapse, as inflammation occurs in the gastrointestinal tract causing symptoms such as diarrhoea, fatigue, abdominal cramps and loss of appetite. This work aimed to validate an instrument to measure quality of life (aoL) in children with IBD and explore family functioning and coping strategies used by children and their parents. A pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of adapting the Dutch children's IBD QoL instrument (IMPACT) for the UK population. The response scale was changed from a visual analogue scale to a Liked scale and some wording was modified to make the scale child fhendly. One hundred children took part in a validation study of both paper and computer versions of IMPACT UK. Face validity was good and most patients found the instrument was easy to understand, cleady laid out, not too personal and would complete the questionnaire again. Principal components analysis indicated that a five factor solution was the most clinically relevant and statistically meaningful. The domains were IBD symptoms, Energy, Embarrassment, Worries and concerns about IBD and Body Image, and all had good internal reliability. No difference was found between paper and computer versions of IMPACT. Compahng patients with different levels of disease activity indicated good discriminant ability for the Embarrassment, IBD symptoms and Energy scales. Concurrent validity was confirmed by demonstrating significant correlation between comparable domains in the Child Health Questionnaire and IMPACT. Test retest analysis suggested fair external reliability. Children with IBD scored highest (best QoL) on the Embarrassment domain and lowest on Body image. No differences were found in QoL between gender, disease group and age group. Ninety children with IBD and 87 of their parents/guardians completed coping questionnaires. The most popular coping strategies used by children were cognitive restructuring, wishful thinking and distraction and the least popular were blaming others and self criticism. Resignation and self criticism were more frequently used by older children (13-17 years). Younger males (8-12) used distraction more often than females the same age, yet 13-17 year old females used distraction more than males. Most children reported that cognitive restructuring and distraction helped with a flare up of disease activity. Parents were most likely to use problem solving and social support coping strategies, and least likely to accept responsibility and use confrontive coping strategies. Female parents used confrontive coping and social support strategies more often than male parents. The Family Assessment Device (FAD) showed IBD families were most 'effective' in behaviour control, affective responsibility and problem solving and children thought the family were worse at communication and affective responsiveness than their parents. The IBD families scored similarly on the FAD to healthy families. Semi structured interviews were conducted with one patient with IBD and his mother and the Narrative inquiry technique (NI) was employed to present information in the form of two stories. The stories showed the effect of IBD on the patient and mother within their social setting and highlighted the possibility of leading a 'normal' life with IBD. The coping processes and QoL of the individuals were explored and it was possible to detect the different factors that conthbute to a person's QoL or choice of coping behaviour. This work contdbutes significantly to the knowledge on the psychosocial effects of children with IBD and their families by using complementary methodologies and adopting a patient centred approach to research.

The study is organised around five themes which were central to nineteenth-century educational debate, and which I have chosen for discussion because they are addressed recurrently in both fictional and extra-literary texts. The selected themes relate to the contribution of domestic education to the moral and spiritual formation of the individual child, the characteristics of the school as a community and socialisation within it, health, sickness and physical education, the content of the curriculum, and preparation for adult roles. In the first chapter I establish the literary, educational and social context for the research. Beginning with a consideration of Fielding’s The Governess; or, Little Female Academy as a paradigm for the school story, I go on to show how nineteenth-century writers adopted and adapted this model both to teach and entertain child readers, and to interpret and interrogate the changing educational scene. After outlining the principal contexts of schooling for both boys and girls, I conclude the chapter by defining the ideals of gender which determined educational practice, and which underpin my entire thesis. I follow this with five chapters, each showing how fiction and non-fiction address one of the aspects of contemporary theory and practice identified above. Chapter Two centres on the debate concerning the merits of domestic education as opposed to formal schooling. I draw chiefly on fictional and theoretical texts by Elizabeth Sewell and Harriet Martineau to examine representations of home and school as both complementary and conflicting sites for spiritual and moral education. Chapter Three considers the organisation of education in more detail. It examines contrasting models of formal schooling delineated in a range of fictional and non-fictional texts, and explores ways in which stories both endorse and challenge ideals of the girls’ school as a surrogate family, and the boy’s school as a ‘little world’ reflecting the gendered roles, relationships and responsibilities characteristic of wider society. In exploring the concept of the school as community and its contribution to the socialisation of the individual, this chapter also highlights the negative influences of institutional schooling as expressed in abusive power structures. In Chapter Four I discuss conflicting attitudes towards the body, contrasting the growing emphasis on physical education and the growth of the cult of games with the idealisation of the invalid and the widespread neglect of provision for health. Chapter Five centres on the debate about the content and delivery of the different curricula offered to boys and to girls, and on opinion relating to the impact of formal teaching and learning on the definition and reinforcement of gender roles. It gives particular consideration to Farrar’s critique of the classical curriculum in both fictional and non-fictional texts, and to the growing debate about the content of girls’ education in an era when young women were increasingly expected to support themselves financially. Chapter Six extends this discussion by examining more closely the representation of the school as a place of social, mental, moral and spiritual preparation for adult life. It identifies different expressions of the Victorian ideology of work in both fiction and non-fiction, and explores ways in which selected stories portray the transition of young people from school to university, vocational training, and employment or, in the case of many girls, to the responsibilities of marriage and family life. Ideals of femininity and masculinity are central to the representation and discussion of schooling throughout the period under consideration, and, as indicated above, I shall give closer consideration to the relationship between gender and education in Chapter 1. Consequently, I have organised each chapter to allow for the separate discussion of fictional texts for boys and those for girls in order to reflect the very different educational experiences and opportunities available to the two sexes, as well as to demonstrate the capacity of fiction to interrogate conventional gender boundaries. As my research questions indicate, my chief interest in considering each of these aspects of schooling has been to investigate and clarify the relationship between fiction and its historical context. My title is inspired by Christine Chaundler’s The Story-Book School (1931), a text which juxtaposes the protagonist’s actual experience of boarding school life with the apparently fanciful ideas she has imbibed from reading. Ultimately she finds that fiction proves closer to the truth than expected, leading the writer to conclude, ‘The things that happen in story-book schools are sometimes founded on fact, it seemed’ (95). I intend to show that the same may be said of the corpus of much earlier texts which form the focus of this study.

This project explores how pupils respond to disabled characters encountered in two fictional stories and considers the potential implications such reactions hold for teaching and learning in schools. The project reviewed three streams of literature, namely books for children in which disabled characters play a part, the literature of disability studies, and literature linked to inclusive education. The research data set was gathered at group sessions held with a total of 41 pupils in four mainstream primary schools and two schools for SEN pupils. The sessions were recorded on DVD. This data set was analysed using a cluster coding convention and grounded theory model. The pupils discussed issues raised by two excerpts from works of fiction in which motor impaired characters play a significant role. The pupils responded actively, coming to grips with complex issues, presenting their own views, discussing the views of others and completing a brief written exercise. The views expressed by the pupils were often supportive of disabled people but critical where the behaviour of the disabled people in the stories warranted criticism. They rarely used prejudicial language about disabled people and they appeared to be almost unaffected by anti- disabled prejudices. One group session was held with disabled pupils at a part-boarding, part-day school for disabled pupils from age 7 to 19. These pupils showed a greater awareness of the day to day realities of life for a motor impaired person. They also showed enthusiasm or the use of books to familiarise non-disabled people with disability. The project also demonstrated that fictional texts featuring motor impaired characters can be used to teach pupils about motor impairment and to encourage them to think about what it means to be thus disabled. It identified key characteristics of the methods used for research with children. It also identified an opportunity for improved teaching in the area of disability. The KS2 curriculum for Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) makes only one mention of disability. Disability could feature more prominently in the curriculum taught by schools and individual teachers.